Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Valentina Olarte. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Valentina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
Earning a full time living from creative work is a roller coaster. There are times, especially challenging ones like the pandemic or the current strike, that can make it feel like I’m taking a step back. I was able to live from just my filmmaking related jobs (yes jobs… voice over, teaching filmmaking and acting) for almost a year and then the strike came. It can feel like like I’m taking a step backwards supplementing my income with “non-acting” related jobs, BUT, I always use this jobs as ways to practice and enhance my acting and other skills. Learning about different jobs and having different experiences open the door to different characters and skills that I can use as a filmmaker and artist. I feel like the key is to keep going, and to receive every opportunity as a time to learn and become better!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Bienvenidos a mi mundo! Welcome to my world!
I grew up in Colombia, lived in Houston for 7 years and now I’m in LA! I got my BFA in Acting from the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Houston. In addition to my training at the University, I studied Acting for the Camera, Meisner, Monologue/Audition technique, Movement/Stage Combat and Dialects through IPA. In Los Angeles, I studied Improv at UCB and Commercial technique at “Hey, I Saw Your Commercial”.
I was part of one of the few Spanish speaking Improv Groups in Los Angeles called “Impromundeando”.
I also started my Voice Over career back in Houston doing radio, puppet shows, enhancing dance performances, etc; and continued it once I moved to Los Angeles. Some of my TV credits for Voice Over (Dubbing) include: Netflix’s The House of Flowers (LA CHIQUIS), Street Food Latin America (Argentina Ep- PATO) and The Cathedral of The Sea (MARIA). I’ve also done several audiobooks with Learning Ally and recently did my first audiobook with Penguin Random House “Mi Chivita Mágica”.
I am an actress who is ready to tell stories in different ways! I feel like a bicultural being and love absorbing other cultures. I also like taking what I know as an actress and filmmaker and use it to teach or give advice. Hence why I work with the company Creating Creators as a freelance filmmaker teaching kids to make films with a heavy focus on story!
I also have my Instagram account ACTivate with Vale which I use to give tips from an actors lifestyle and knowledge that could be useful to everyone (anything from memorizing, voice, movement, meditation, etc!) it’s still growing but I look forward to do more with it!
A little more about me… was born in Medellin, Colombia and grew up in Chia, Colombia (very close to the capital, Bogota). I lived in Colombia until I was 17 years old. I grew up watching street theatre, amazing plays brought for the Festival iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota and of course movies and TV form all over the world but mainly from the USA. For two years I trained in MISI, a musical theatre academy in Bogota and did every Christmas show at School! I also participated in different models of the United Nations (which to me it was very close to acting!). I also played several sports growing up but mainly Basketball and Tennis (which I still play). I LOVE to dance! I love dancing to ANYTHING but there’s nothing that can stop me form at least moving my hips when Hispanic music is playing!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think as creatives we are channels. And seeing how others can be changed by feeling touched, inspired, entertained, more knowledgeable and all the amazing things art makes as feel, is my favorite thing of being an actress and creative. On top of feeling on top of the world when I do it!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I moved to the United States a year before I went into college. I knew English but knowing that communicating with words is a main tool for an actor, I really wanted to be better at it. I chose to go to The University of Houston because there was a teacher who was great with accents and “accent reduction” there, who I had a great chat with when I went to audition for the school (also, I feel like we need a new term for “accent reduction”). Very excited to learn, not only acting, but also English, I started school, but, the teacher I had spoken to had gone on a Sabbatical year. A year and a half went by and I had really enjoyed the program so far and was doing well on all my classes(As and Bs). It was then that I received a letter saying that I was on PROBATION (I might get kicked out of school) due to a language barrier affecting my acting. I was confused and ashamed when I received this letter. Not only feeling like my efforts had been worthless but also that I was somehow not being able to honor (yes it’s a little dramatic but it’s how it felt) my family’s effort of coming to the U.S to give me and my sister a better future. I thought about leaving, I was even advised to go to a different state. Nevertheless, I decided to stay and came to an agreement that I would audit a year of classes to level up and go back to school then. Thankfully that extra year (I count it as extra because I was able to experience more teachers, different approaches and more college experience for me to assimilate the American culture) gave me a lot of the strength and self confidence. It was a bit of being broken into pieces and being put back together with a little bit of gold in between (like Kintsugi articles in japan).
It was with this new confidence that I was able to continue my career and feel like no matter what the obstacles are, the time it takes, I will always love to act and want to act and succeed one way or another.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.valentinaolarte.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valentinaolartea/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valentina.olarte1
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-olarte-a15b9374
- Twitter: https://x.com/valen_olarte?s=21&t=VeRqntaWRjw2F_ztpf06Lg
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/IlRQJulovdU
Image Credits
Natasha Vivan Productions